Coronavirus has been ‘a disaster’ for UK, says PM
PM says crucial thing is to make sure that we’re ready to crack down on local flare ups and that’s why we have wack-a-mole strategy and vows ‘Rooseveltian’ response to virus crisis
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the coronavirus crisis had been a disaster for the United Kingdom but that it was not the right time for an inquiry into missteps.
“This has been a disaster,” Johnson told Times Radio.
“Let’s not mince our words, I mean this has been an absolute nightmare for the country and the country has gone through a profound shock.”
He said, though, that this was not the right time for an inquiry in the handling of the crisis.
On his senior adviser Dominic Cummings, he said: “Dom is outstanding.”
Johnson said that reports of him looking wraithlike were complete nonsense.
“When I came out of hospital I did notice there were occasional pieces in the papers saying I was looking a bit wraithlike, or something someone said,” Johnson said.
“Complete nonsense I want you to know.” “I am feeling very well, yes thank you, again thanks to our National Health Service,” he said.
Asked whether he thought every day about the high level of total deaths and infection rates in
Britain from the novel coronavirus, Johnson said: “Every day... What we’ve got is the curve going in the direction roughly that they thought it would. It is very slowly coming down.”
“The crucial thing is to make sure that we’re ready to crack down on local flare ups and that’s why we have the wack-a-mole strategy.”
Johnson said Britons were significantly fatter than people in most of the rest of Europe, admitting he had lost weight after contracting the novel coronavirus.
Johnson said: “I have taken a very libertarian stance on obesity but actually when you look at the numbers, when you look at the pressure on the NHS (National Health Service), compare, I’m afraid this wonderful country of ours to other European countries, we are significantly fatter than most others, apart from the Maltese for some reason. It is an issue.”
“Everybody knows that this is a tough one, but I think it’s something we all need to address.”
Johnson did some press ups to show he was “as fit as a butcher’s dog” in an interview with the Mail on Sunday newspaper, just months after he fought for his life in hospital against the coronavirus.
Johnson said the coronavirus crisis needed the type of massive economic response US president Franklin D. Roosevelt mobilised to deal with the Great Depression.
Johnson told that Britain was heading for “bumpy times” as it struggles through its biggest economic contraction on record.
He intends to unveil a spending programme in a speech on Tuesday his office has simply dubbed “build, build, build.”
“I think this is the moment for a Rooseveltian approach to the UK, really really moving forward,” said Johnson.
“I really think the investment will pay off.” Roosevelt launched the New Deal programme in the 1930s that created a comprehensive social care system whose legacy lives on to this day.
The first part of Johnson’s initiative earmarks £1 billion ($1.2 billion, 1.1 billion euros) for school repairs.
“The country has gone through a profound shock. But in those moments you have the opportunity to change and to do things better,” Johnson said.
“We really want to build back better, to do things differently, to invest in infrastructure, transport, broadband - you name it.”
Johnson’s interview with Times Radio comes a week before the full reopening of restaurants, pubs and other parts of the hospitality, tourism and cultural sectors in England for the first time since March 20.
A full lockdown was imposed three days later, and has been one of the longest in Europe.
As restrictions ease nationwide, the UK’S first local lockdown may soon be introduced in the central city of Leicester to deal with a reported spike in virus cases.
“I think the crucial thing is that we are ready to crack down on local flare-ups,” Johnson said.
“That’s why you’re seeing the steps that are being taken in Leicester.”
Johnson admitted that his own near-death experience with COVID-19 — he was treated at an intensive care unit in early April — made him reassess his hands-off approach to Britons’ general fitness.